Swampwalker: The wording of the website excerpt was a bit ambiguous, but they don't mean to suggest a scenario where someone would attempt biwiring with the jumpers still in place (not that, to them, it would make any difference if you did, unless perhaps your jumpers really sucked). They're saying that in their opinion there is no real difference (from an electrical connection standpoint) between the point at which the treble and bass speaker terminals are tied together being at the speaker end (jumper w/single wire) or at the amp end (single binding post [per leg] w/biwire) - *except* possibly for the fact that biwiring with everything else being equal implies up to a 100% increase in the effective conductor mass. If you buy that position (and I do), then biwiring is mostly a marketing chimera, with doubled speaker terminals only being (maybe) productively employed for biamping.
Cobalt cable theory on bi-wiring. Fact or fiction?
The follow was taken from colbalt cables web site. I was just wondering what those with more knowledge and experience think of this theory? If the theory is sound, it will save alot of people some money for more component upgrades. "Bi-wiring is a technique becoming quite popular in speaker applications. However, in our opinion, there are only a few situations where bi-wiring makes sense and MANY situations where bi-wiring is just hype. Here is what we think the complete story is about bi-wiring, and why it really does not make any sense for most people's equipment. The simple explanation for why the advantages of bi-wiring are very slight or nonexistent is that most people only have speakers built for bi-wiring, while their amplification is not. By using the same amplifier channel for both sets of bi-wire cables (both sets are connected to the same binding posts on the amplifier or receiver), the same electrical path is being used for both sets of terminals on each speaker, thus negating the core advantages of bi-wiring.
For example, most bi-wireable (we invented a new word) speakers come with some sort of plate or bar that connects the two (+) and the two (-) terminals (one for high frequency and one for low frequency) to each other. By using these plates or bars, you are "bridging" the two sets of terminals together creating only one connection point, so that you only need to make one speaker connection to each speaker.
By using the same amplifier channel (and terminals) for each set of bi-wire terminals on your speakers, you would be bridging the two sets of terminals together with your amplifier (since they share the same connection point on the amplifier). From an electrical perspective, this is NO different than running one speaker cable to the speaker, and bridging the two sets of terminals together with the bar or plate.
But wait, there's more! If you act now... (just kidding).
The only advantage in most setups (only speakers built for bi-wiring) for bi-wiring would be using twice as much physical wire (two separate runs to each speaker, thus dropping three gauge) as a standard wiring configuration.
However, if you are already using a fairly low gauge speaker cable (like our 10 AWG Ultimate Speaker Cable), there is little to be gained by "doubling-up". Plus, the added expense of running twice as much speaker cable for a barely audible (at best) difference, probably does not make too much sense.
The funny thing is, bi-wiring is actually a sound theory (pun intended, HA!), but the advantages can really only be had when it is used in conjunction with bi-amping (running more than one amplifier channel per speaker). In order to bi-amp the "right way", an external crossover between the preamplifier and each amplifier channel will be needed (so that only the high-frequency or the low-frequency parts of the signal will be amplified), and the internal crossovers inside the speakers will need to be disconnected (so that each amplifier will go directly to the corresponding speaker driver, i.e. the woofer for low frequency and the tweeter for high-frequency). WHEW! We personally don't know of too many people who will go to these extremes to take advantage of the benefits of bi-wiring, so bi-wiring just ends up getting WAY more attention than it should. We think that you should know what some of these other companies are up to out there. Straight-up and at ya partner."
For example, most bi-wireable (we invented a new word) speakers come with some sort of plate or bar that connects the two (+) and the two (-) terminals (one for high frequency and one for low frequency) to each other. By using these plates or bars, you are "bridging" the two sets of terminals together creating only one connection point, so that you only need to make one speaker connection to each speaker.
By using the same amplifier channel (and terminals) for each set of bi-wire terminals on your speakers, you would be bridging the two sets of terminals together with your amplifier (since they share the same connection point on the amplifier). From an electrical perspective, this is NO different than running one speaker cable to the speaker, and bridging the two sets of terminals together with the bar or plate.
But wait, there's more! If you act now... (just kidding).
The only advantage in most setups (only speakers built for bi-wiring) for bi-wiring would be using twice as much physical wire (two separate runs to each speaker, thus dropping three gauge) as a standard wiring configuration.
However, if you are already using a fairly low gauge speaker cable (like our 10 AWG Ultimate Speaker Cable), there is little to be gained by "doubling-up". Plus, the added expense of running twice as much speaker cable for a barely audible (at best) difference, probably does not make too much sense.
The funny thing is, bi-wiring is actually a sound theory (pun intended, HA!), but the advantages can really only be had when it is used in conjunction with bi-amping (running more than one amplifier channel per speaker). In order to bi-amp the "right way", an external crossover between the preamplifier and each amplifier channel will be needed (so that only the high-frequency or the low-frequency parts of the signal will be amplified), and the internal crossovers inside the speakers will need to be disconnected (so that each amplifier will go directly to the corresponding speaker driver, i.e. the woofer for low frequency and the tweeter for high-frequency). WHEW! We personally don't know of too many people who will go to these extremes to take advantage of the benefits of bi-wiring, so bi-wiring just ends up getting WAY more attention than it should. We think that you should know what some of these other companies are up to out there. Straight-up and at ya partner."